With Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman ruled out for Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game as the result of a jammed thumb suffered Saturday, it was up to NL manager Bruce Bochy to name a replacement.

Yasiel Puig? Nope.

Not even Adrian Gonzalez, a fellow first baseman? Sorry.

Bochy didn't waste much time Sunday morning picking Braves catcher Brian McCann as the sub for Freeman on an NL roster that had only one backup catcher to start with.

One way or another, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly isn't against Puig taking a side trip to New York before the All-Star break resumes in Washington, D.C. Just as long as he's OK to play. Puig has been in and out of the lineup the last three games with a strained left hip.

"I'm staying out of that stuff, but if a guy's hurt he usually doesn't go to an All-Star Game," said Mattingly. "If he's healthy and can go 100 percent, sure. I don't care if he goes, as long as he's healthy.

"If he goes and during the break he's strained himself and isn't ready to play ... It just doesn't make a lot of sense right now."

Puig, who went 1 for 3 on Sunday after entering the game in the fifth inning, said through an interpreter afterward he just found out about Freeman's injury and "they didn't ask me" if he would want to join the NL roster.

He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head when asked if he thought he should go.

"Everyone on the list is deserving to get in," he said.

Puig did make a strange pregame curtain call after a video montage of his first-half highlights were shown on the video screen, causing him to emerge from the dugout and wave to the cheering crowd.

BACK TO BACK

When the Dodgers' second half of the season starts Friday in Washington D.C., Ricky Nolasco will have the strange distinction of having started two straight games because Mattingly said he'll be first up to face the Nationals, following Nolaso's start against the Rockies on Sunday. The rest of Mattingly's rotation will align Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershsaw, Hyun-jin Ryu and Chris Capuano.

Ryu will end up having 11 days of rest between starts. Kershaw's slot is assuming he'll also get work in Tuesday's All-Star game.

If that rotation order holds, Greinke and Kershaw will be the starters July 30 and 31 when the New York Yankees visit Dodger Stadium.

In other rotation news, Mattingly and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt have decided on a plan for injured left-hander Ted Lilly, but the manager wouldn't say what that plan is.

Lilly, who's been on the disabled list since June 9 with a sprained neck, is 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA in five starts this season.

"We talked about some different scenarios," Mattingly said. "We settled on the one we want. We haven't talked to Teddy yet."

KEMP'S CALENDAR

The Dodgers won't have to wait long for Matt Kemp to return from the disabled list.

"A couple days into the break," Mattingly said. "He looks like Sunday or something."

Sunday is the final game of the Dodgers' three-game series against the Nationals. From there, they will travel to Toronto for a three-game interleague series against the Blue Jays beginning Monday, July 22.

Kemp was shut down with inflammation in the AC joint of his left shoulder on July 6.

Mattingly said that he'd like Kemp to get some rehabilitation games in first.

The Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are off Tuesday and play in Stockton Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts play a five-game series in Birmingham, Alabama, beginning Thursday. The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes are at home for four games beginning Thursday, perhaps making New Mexico the most likely destination if Kemp goes on a rehab stint.

Also unresolved is the question of a corresponding roster move, and who sits among an outfield of Kemp, Puig, Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier.

It's an enviable problem to have.

"I like the problem of four guys," Mattingly said. "It gives us a lot of different combinations."

For what it's worth, the Dodgers starting lineup Sunday had Ethier in center, with Shumaker in right and Van Slyke in left. By the ninth inning, it was Puig in center (after moving over from right), Van Slyke in right and Crawford in left.

ALSO:

The 11th sellout of the season was announced at 51,402. With three of the four games against Colorado sold out, the total of 206,930 is the fifth-largest four-game series in stadium history.